The stories of countries is the story of people who tried to seek out new opportunities in the land they live in and make it better. Sometimes the better is for them as opposed to someone else; sometimes the better is for the vision they believe in; and sometimes the better is for everyone. One of the tasks in looking at the history of any country is how to organize it and getting that right leads to an interesting book. In the book The Men Who United the States by Simon Winchester, published by HarperCollins, NY, 2013 the organization has followed classical eastern lines. The organization is wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

It is very possible to go to many parts with the book because the author easily finds interesting but forgotten episodes to make the history and reality come together. One of the notable people in the building of the railroad was Ted Judah. He was an engineer and was brought to California to the Sierra Nevada mountains to look at a potential pass through it. The pass is called Donner Pass and when Mr. Judah saw it he saw the potential – there would be a great amount of effort and resources both money and people to finish the pass but it would be constructed. When the railroad was being constructed in terms of logistics everything had to be brought in by boat. On the west coast from ships from the east coast and around South America and starting at on the east starting at Omaha up or down the Mississippi River as there was no connection between to Chicago.

The business of railways is freight involving moving commodities from one place to another and the big exchange of cars is done in Omaha is a yard called Bailey Yard 8 miles long and 3,000 acres. It is also said because of its size, the movement of rail cars is a daily litmus test of the health of the US economy. The busier the Yard is, the healthier the nation’s balance sheet is.

Another story involving transportation or metal is the automobile. In 1919, Major Dwight Eisenhower job was to move a convey of trucks from the east coast to the west coast. Although the car had been introduced and a Model T or a Chev 490 cost less than 3 month’s pay, there were not many roads to drive in on. The trip by the Major eventually crossed 3,251 miles at an average speed of 5.6 miles per hour. It is not surprising when the Major became US President one of the many things he did was financing the interstate highways to connect the states, which many now take for granted. The building of the highways was one of the greatest public works program. In you add the public works administration works of the 1930’s – we still see some of the methods which the economy was transformed.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, while the above relate to government programs, many businesses including profitable ones depend on the government to supply infrastructure in which the business adds value to. Government often has its own time lines, but working with the government base is a hallmark of many successful companies. Often as the company grows larger, the interconnection grows – both need each other.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.